The cruelty and lawless of alien Fulani herdsmen, making life miserable for farmers in the Agogo portion of the Afram Plains, took centre stage at a forum organized for candidates contesting the Asante-Akim North parliamentary seat to share their development vision with voters.
     
The programme was put together by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) with support from the European Union.
     
On hand to participate, were Mary Awusi of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Andy Appiah-Kubi, New Patriotic Party (NDC) Ernest Owusu Bempah, National Democratic Party (NDP), Emmanuel Adama, Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Samuel Anyan-Kusi (Independent)
     
They all acknowledged that the herdsmen were causing so much pain and giving the people sleepless nights and took turns to pledge to go the extra mile to end the situation, if elected by the people.
     
They were unanimous in their position that the farmers would not have to live under constant fear, they should not be terrorized and they should not continue to see their farms destroyed by the nomadic headsmen and their animals.
     
The five parliamentary candidates also answered questions on how they planned to grow the area’s agriculture, education, health, water and sanitation.
     
They spoke about various initiatives to tackle the high post-harvest losses in respect of tomato and plantain production, the dominant crops, cultivated by the people.
    
These included constructing storage facilities and installation of processing plants to add value to the crops and job creation.
    
Mr. Samuel Akuamoah, National Chairman of the NCCE, said the programme was part of the effort to deepen the interaction between the candidates and those, whose mandate they were seeking.
    
That, he indicated, was the way forward to aid voters to make the right judgement on voting day.
    
He hinted that this was going to be replicated in some selected constituencies across the nation.
    
He applauded the candidates and their supporters for the responsible conduct and encouraged them to continue to demonstrate political maturity to safeguard the peace.